Design for Wire and Arc Additive Layer Manufacture

Abstract

Additive Layer Manufacture (ALM) is a technique whereby freeform structures are produced by building up material in layers. RUAM (Ready-to-Use Additive Layer Manufacturing) is an innovative concept for building large scale metal ready-to-use parts. The design for RUAM has several process steps: the geometric design of the parts taking the complex process behaviour of the arc welding process into account; FEM to predict temperature and stress distributions to minimise part distortions; and efficient robot tool path design. This paper covers these essential design steps from a technical as well as practical point of view.